September 2, 2010

Farewell to Gillian Caldwell at 1Sky

I want to wish a farewell to 1Sky Campaign Director Gillian Caldwell, who is stepping down from the grassroots climate organization. I’ve always been impressed with the effectiveness and creativity of 1Sky and their efforts to address the climate crisis, and as its leader Gillian deserves a large share of the credit. I had a popular post once of Gillian’s confrontation with President Obama over clean coal. Below is the e-mail I received from 1Sky yesterday.

Matt,

It’s hard to believe three years have passed since I joined 1Sky as its first Campaign Director, and how far we’ve come in such a short time because of your hard work and dedication. Which leads me to the decision I’m announcing today.

It’s with a bittersweet mixture of excitement and sadness that I am stepping down from my role at 1Sky to consult on social justice issues near and dear to my heart — including, of course, climate change.

1Sky has grown from being a start-up in 2007 with a devoted founding board of directors, just one staffer (i.e. me) and no office, into a powerful grassroots campaign that has worked tirelessly nationwide to push our leaders in Washington for bold solutions to the climate crisis.

Together, we’ve grown the climate movement, helped to pass President Obama’s economic recovery plan that contained a whopping $87 billion in green investments, and protected the Clean Air Act from dirty polluters and their allies in Congress itching to gut it.

Even though our leaders have deeply disappointed us so far this year by failing to pass a climate bill or even an oil spill recovery bill, I’m proud of our achievements and I’m confident that we’ve laid a solid foundation for climate action in the future.

I am also pleased to announce that our current Deputy Campaign Director, Liz Butler, will be taking over for me as Campaign Director. With more than 17 years of organizing experience and senior leadership in the environmental movement, Liz is a great choice to lead 1Sky into its next chapter, and you’ll be hearing from her in the next few weeks as she lays out the campaign’s priorities for the coming year.

Big Oil and Dirty Coal have lavished nearly $15 million in campaign contributions on members of Congress since 2009, and that money has bought them a pass so far on climate, clean energy and taking responsibility for the BP oil spill, just to name a few. We need to keep building and strengthening this grassroots movement to take them on, and your generous contribution will do just that.

Three years ago, I threw myself into the climate movement because I knew that the poorest and most marginalized people on the planet are being hit first and worst by the ravages of global warming. But I also did it because I wanted to leave my children Tess and Finn a cleaner, safer world. Despite recent setbacks, I’m confident that the arc of history for the climate movement is bending towards the change we so desperately need. That’s why I’ll continue to support 1Sky after my departure and I know you will, too. It’s the fight of our lifetimes — we can’t just throw up our hands in despair and walk away.

Thank you so much for your continued commitment to the climate movement.